My Funny Valentine?

We blog for a million different reasons, but in the end we’re all storytellers. Writing Challenges help you push your writing boundaries and explore new ideas, subjects, and styles.

To participate, read the challenge instructions and write at least one post in response. Tag your post with DPchallenge and include a link to this post to generate a pingback. Make sure your post has been specifically published in response to this challenge. We might just highlight some of our favorites on Freshly Pressed, on our @postaday account on Twitter, or in our quarterly newsletter.

My first date with the person who ended up being my (fortunate?) wife was the day after Valentine’s. We’d thought about getting together for a while, but meeting in the run-up to this organized heart-shaped extravaganza felt at once tacky and stressful. Would we just be auditioning each other for an upcoming candle-lit dinner? Our annual un-Valentine’s has since become an inside joke and a beloved ritual.

Of all the different holidays on the calendar, St. Valentine’s Day, coming up this Friday, might be the most fraught with conflicting emotions. It feels strange to be explicitly against a day celebrating love and commitment. But it’s hard not to feel self-conscious — if not completely unoriginal — when walking on a sidewalk teeming with other flower- and chocolate-wielding lovers.

What about those of us in unhappy relationships, non-traditional ones, or enjoying a fulfilling, solitary life? The terrain can get rocky, fast. Can one single day encompass the richness and diversity of experience — from the heartwarming to the heartbreaking — that love can produce? Does it even make sense to channel so much emotional energy into 1/365th of the calendar?

In your posts for this challenge, feel free to take the discussion in whatever direction inspires you. You can share your most unabashedly romantic Valentine’s story, or write about why you shun the holiday altogether. You can describe a funny (or touching, or poignant) scene you’ve witnessed on a past Valentine’s, or tell us about an alternative celebration you’re planning this year to mark your most meaningful relationships.

If you’re looking for more specific writing prompts, here are some you might have fun with:

You’re an intergalactic visitor who just happened to land on Earth on February 14. Describe the weirdness you’re seeing.

Write the Valentine’s card you’ll never have the courage to actually send.

Invent your own love-themed holiday: what would it encompass?

Whether or not you’re in the mood for love, we look forward to reading your posts — have fun writing!

You’re absolutely welcome to respond to the challenge in the language of your choosing! I should note, though, that the Daily Post community — the posts here, comment threads, etc. — is run in English, so it’s possible most readers won’t be able to enjoy your entry. You can always promote your post in your own, German-speaking network, of course.

I’m not quite familiar with the German side of WordPress.com, though I wouldn’t be surprised if there are others who’d welcome a German-speaking challenge — maybe you could gather some fellow-bloggers and create your own, grassroots challenge?

Just in case you haven’t tried it, you might want to visit our German-speaking forum — if you don’t find any existing challenges there, it’s the perfect place to float the idea to see if anyone else might be interested.

Challenges are up for a week — so this one is live until next Monday; of course, nothing stops you from writing a post based on a challenge any time you see fit — we encourage everyone to look at the challenge archive for inspiration in case you need an extra idea.

That said, since Valentine’s is this Friday, I suspect that for this challenge, many will chime in by the end of the week. But again, this is entirely your call!

Valentine’s day is not that popular where I come from.After moving to North America I’ve understood how much popular it is. I have taught kids in a school, I got to know how much they love this day.I love this day when I see how valuable love and affection are. One can wish a friend a spouse parents grandparents. To me it doesn’t mean lovers only.

i was in the second grade in the philippines when i came of age as far as valentine is concerned, thanks to a classmate who sat in the front row of our class. she was really cute, especially when she came to school in a white dress and a flower on her shoulder-length hair.

i thought of giving her a valentine card that year. but when i asked my mother for money, she refused. she said i was too young to be thinking of such things. it was a lesson learned. it was an instance when honesty didn’t pay. i would have had better luck if i said it was for ice cream instead.

For those who are finding this week leading up to Valentine’s Day a struggle due to recent relationship disaster… here is a What Not To Do list! It may help, it may not, but at the least it may be comforting that you haven’t been quite as ridiculous as I have. http://pinandpod.wordpress.com